


MAELSTROM

by AlyssiaInWonderland



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Demons, Exchange Student, Gen, Just really what would happen if another character dropped in, Kagome is behind on school again, Kagome is failing English, Mae is an exchange student, Multi, Tutoring, but i kid myself that its also potentially fun to read, demon hunting, this fic is rather self indulgent tbh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-11
Updated: 2016-10-11
Packaged: 2018-08-21 22:52:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8263375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlyssiaInWonderland/pseuds/AlyssiaInWonderland
Summary: Kagome has adjusted to life travelling between the worlds on each side of the well. But, Kagome is failing English classes, and so has to chaperone one of the English exchange students - Mae. When her house is broken into and the shards or the Shikon no Tama are stolen from her bedroom, she and Mae fall onto the other side of the well. How will Mae and Inuyasha react to this development and what will they do to find the shards and explain to Mae what on earth is happening?
So this is basically a what-if fic, or what-if a girl named Mae ended up dropping into the plot of the storyline! She's going to ask awkward questions, get them into and out of scrapes, and probably end up with a net positive effect on the group (hopefully). Major canon divergence, and I've definitely taken a bit of license with it, but I hope it does keep the overall feel of the original! It's been a while since I read and watched Inuyasha, but I hope the general nostalgia and feeling of it comes through! Ok I'll shut up now and let the story commence! (Any words that are untranslated here are commonly also untranslated in the comics themselves, and have translations  in the notes at the bottom of the page!)





	1. THE INTRODUCTION (THE BIT WHERE THE CHARACTERS MEET AND SET UP)

“We have a problem.” Kagome sipped her tea and looked around at the small group sitting around the fire in Kaede’s hut with her.  
“What is it that troubles you, child?” asked Kaede.  
“Yeah, what’s the problem, I’ll smash it up – faster than Inuyasha!” piped up Shippo. Kagome smiled and ruffled Shippo’s hair, glad that Inuyasha had, for once, decided not to comment.  
“The problem won’t go away by being hit, Shippo. The thing is,” she continued, “I have been missing a lot of school recently, and one of the main subjects I have been falling behind on is languages. That means that I’m going to be one of the people who have to look after the exchange students from England when they come to visit my school.”  
“What is an exchange student?” asked Sango, before whacking Miroku’s arm; he had made use of her distraction to drape the arm over Sango’s shoulders suggestively.  
“Owww, Sango! That hurt!”  
“You deserve it, letch!” she grumbled, but with less rancour than usual. “Kagome?” she prompted.  
“They study at a school, like mine, but at a place really, really far away from where I live. They speak a totally different language to me, and you, and sometimes they will come and visit my school, to see how good they are at the language we speak.” Kagome attempted to explain, but felt she was not doing a very good job of it.  
“Why do they need to know our language if they live so far away from here?” asked Shippo, confused.  
“They don’t,” volunteered Inuyasha grumpily, “It’s just another torture made up by this School thing of hers.” He jabbed a thumb at Kagome. “It’s not necessary, right Miroku? No point in knowing it if you never use it.”  
Kagome frowned at Inuyasha angrily. “That’s the point of the visit, Inuyasha! They come to where I live and then they can use Japanese, and talk to people here! At the same time, I can practice my English with the student.”  
“So far I see no issue,” Inuyasha interrupted. “You ask one of your friends to look after the student and you stay here – simple!” he smiled broadly, thinking he had solved everything.  
“I can’t do that, idiot! The reason I’m host is because I’m failing! I can’t shove the responsibility onto someone else! Besides, I’ve communicated with Mae before, and she’s looking forward to seeing me. So I have to look after her.” She replied determinedly.  
“How long would you be away for, Kagome?” asked Miroku, trying to keep the atmosphere in the hut less tense.  
“Three weeks.” She replied in her smallest, quietest, least offensive voice. She waited for Inuyasha to blow.  
“Three weeks?” wailed Shippo, distraught. He launched himself at her and clung to her neck. “That’s ages and ages!” he sniffled.  
“I’m sorry, Shippo, I will try to drop in every so often, I promise.” She replied. She looked up when she heard the profound lack of complaint, before she realised that Inuyasha had gone. She bit her lip.  
“Don’t worry, Kagome, Inuyasha’ll cool down in a bit.” Assured Miroku. A silence filled the little hut, until Kaede finally spoke, making the group jump.  
“Kagome, much as I do not understand your schools, or what you have said, it is clear that your heart and duty bind you to looking after this exchange student, Mae. Therefore, do what you must, but make certain that people do not misinterpret your actions, on either side of the well.” She said, calmly. “I will see you again, child.”  
Kagome nodded. She stood and so did the others. They said their goodbyes. As she walked back to the well, she felt extremely alone. She looked back over her shoulder, and then at the well, which was unguarded. She tried not to feel disappointed. She stepped out into the small clearing and was both irritated and relieved to see the familiar silver and red blur land in front of the well.  
“Going somewhere?” Inuyasha asked smugly, sitting on the well edge, arms folded.  
“I’m going home so I can look after Mae.” She replied, as if it were completely obvious.  
“Nope, you’re not.”  
“I’m sorry?” she asked, getting irritated. “I didn’t realise you could tell me what to do, Inuyasha. Last time I checked, all I have to do is say one word and I win.” She threatened.  
“You wouldn’t dare!” growled Inuyasha, his golden eyes swirling angrily in a deep orangey-red. Kagome stared at his eyes, feeling her irritation start to slip away into their scintillating gold.  
“Inuyasha, I have to go. Please don’t make this hard for me.” She said softly.  
“It’s too long a time, Kagome! Anything could happen in three weeks. In three weeks, without me there to protect you, anything could happen to you!” he continued. He stopped suddenly, coughed and then continued, sounding less angry and more embarrassed. “Besides, what if Naraku shows up? You’re the jewel detector, aren’t you? You shattered the stupid thing, after all.” He blustered.  
“It’s nice of you to worry about me,” she said, smiling at him, “But I’ll be fine. I’ve survived until now, haven’t I?” she pointed out.  
“Keh, who said I was worried about you?” he replied, grouchy to the last. “Deluded…” he muttered to himself. Laughing, Kagome stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. Inuyasha froze and he started to turn a brilliant scarlet. Kagome made use of his confusion to dart past him and drop into the well. The last thing she saw was his mortified face and him preparing to jump after her.  
“OSUWARI!” she yelled. The face disappeared, and just as she transferred back to her time, she could have sworn she’d felt a faint thud. She brushed off her clothes and climbed back up out of the well, letting herself into the shrine.  
“Do you have the three weeks off then, dear?” asked her mother.  
“Yep,” she replied, “But you make it sound like a job or something, Mom.” She giggled at the thought.  
“Mae is arriving tomorrow, so I prepared some special dishes to introduce her to traditional Japanese food.” said Kagome’s Mom, smiling at her daughter. “If you want, you can help me bake a cake, if you can get still get up tomorrow. Remember, it’s nine already, and you have to be in school at seven.”  
“That’d be great, Mom!” Kagome squealed. “I’ll just go change – and maybe after cooking I can have a bath, if it’s not too late.” She ran off upstairs to her room.

Mae was sitting next to an irritating, blonde, and noisy girl who suffered from a crippling phobia of heights. Mae held her breath and counted to ten for the trillionth time as the girl continued to babble at the top of her high pitched voice about the first thing that came into her vacant head, reminding herself that since Stephanie had decided to inflict her friendship upon herself, it would be horrible of her to snap. It was not that Mae was intolerant of the fact that the girl was scared, it was more that she couldn’t help but wonder how long it would be until she figured out that screaming in her ear wasn’t going to help anything. She didn’t quite understand how someone with so basic an aversion to travel and flying would agree to an approximately twelve hour flight to Tokyo, even if she would never say so to Stephanie’s face. One hour in and the shrill voice hadn’t become any calmer, nor had it run out of things to talk about.  
“Mae, I’m sure the engine is failing, we’re going to crash and die!” wailed Stephanie, the blonde girl, clutching at Mae’s arm with a surprisingly strong grip.  
“It’s just a little turbulence, Stephy, it’s fine, really.” Mae reassured her, yet again, before removing her i-pod from her bag as a last resort. “Here, borrow my music, it might help a bit.” She smiled at Stephanie. “Try to get some sleep, it’s going to be a busy day tomorrow…well, today…sort of…” She overdid her confusion, making Stephanie laugh a little.  
“Thanks for being so patient, Mae.” Stephanie said, quietly. “It’s just, I don’t know, sleep is for when you’re relaxed. I’m really tense.”  
Mae selected some calming classical music on her i-pod and handed it to the terrified girl. “Relax. I won’t let the plane crash, even if I have to go in and take over from the pilot myself.” She said, grinning slightly evilly.  
“If you take over, we’re more likely to crash!” bantered Stephanie, already calmer now she had allowed herself to become sufficiently distracted.  
“Don’t be stupid, you know I plan on flying planes for a living; you’ve even seen me practice, banana!” she was referring to the time when her class had been invited to watch her perform aerobatics in the small Tutor plane that students like her could learn to fly in, if they were members of a cadet force – a group of young people who were taught skills that would otherwise only be taught if you joined the military.  
“True,” smiled Stephanie. “I was terrified, but I guess if you could handle all those crazy manoeuvres, you can handle a 747. I’ll try to sleep.” Stephanie snuggled down in her seat, putting in the headphones and closing her eyes and relaxing for the first time. Mae sighed in relief and leaned her head against the cool glass, staring at the beautiful cloudscapes before her. She drank them in until she fell asleep, her head mixed with Japanese words and strange creatures imagined from the cloudscape flitting in and out of her dreams.

Kagome waited along with the other eleven girls chosen as hosts this year, watching anxiously for the minibus that held their companions for the next three weeks. Finally, the minibus arrived and the English students piled out. She let the other girls from her school pick out their students, feeling stupid that she hadn’t checked what Mae looked like. She scanned the twelve English girls until she found one who hadn’t been picked out. She was standing just behind a blonde girl who had started to chat nervously to her host. The blonde girl looked back at the black-haired one, and the one behind gave the blonde a little shove and a nod, waggling her phone, as if to say that she would always be a phone-call away. The blonde girl seemed reassured by this, and followed her host into the school much more readily. Finally, Kagome realised that only that girl was left, and that she was staring at her.  
“Mae?” asked Kagome, smiling at her.  
“Kagome?” she asked, shouldering a large walking rucksack and dragging a suitcase behind her.  
“Yes,” she replied in English. “Did you have a good trip?” Kagome hoped her language skills were not as abysmal as her teachers thought. Mae grinned, and prepared to drop her bombshell.  
“I had a wonderful trip, thank you Kagome; would you mind showing me where I can store my things for today?” she replied in flawless Japanese.  
Kagome couldn’t help it, her jaw dropped of its own accord. Mae didn’t even have an accent!  
“Hnnnn…?” Kagome was rendered inarticulate, and felt ashamed at her own lack of skill.  
“I was born here in Tokyo,” Mae explained with a smile. “I lived here until I was six, actually, and then moved to England. That’s why I retained the language fairly well, and signed up for Japanese classes, so I could have at least one subject I could ace with no trouble!”  
Kagome smiled again. “It’d sure be nice to have a subject here I could ace.” She commented, walking Mae over to the classroom allocated for baggage storage today.  
“Yeah, must be tough keeping on top of everything all the time, as well as having that hobby of yours.” Mae replied, reffering to what Kagome, in her letters, had called ‘professional jewel collecting’ for her family.  
“You have no idea…” murmured Kagome, slipping easily back into Japanese, and finding that she liked Mae even better in person than through letters.

At the end of the day, when Kagome and Mae had eaten dinner, and Mae had exclaimed in delight and gratitude over every single home-baked dish, Kagome’s Mom explained apologetically that she needed to take Souta and look after Kagome’s Ji-chan, who had fallen down the stairs that day.  
“Is he alright?” asked Kagome, alarmed.  
“He’s fine, but Souta wants to stay with him in the hospital, and I’d rather look after Souta. He seems to think it’s his fault that Ji-chan decided to try to purify the stairwell. He said he was pretending to be-“ Kagome’s Mom faltered, “A certain hanyou,” she continued, “And Ji-chan overreacted. I’m very sorry, Mae.”  
“Don’t worry about it, Higurashi-sama. Kagome and I will be fine.” She replied. 

Mae and Kagome spent a lot of time just chatting and packing bags for travel tomorrow, on a sightseeing trip in the fields around Tokyo. Kagome laughed when she saw all the extra survival kit Mae was packing, and Mae laughed when Kagome put in her bag a small bottle of perfume.  
“Never know when you might need it!” she grinned teasingly.  
“Keh, if you stick to that theory you’ll take the entire house, Kagome!” Mae replied. She blinked when Kagome looked so startled. The ‘Keh’ had really confused her. For a moment she had almost expected to see Inuyasha at the window to her room, but then she remembered how she had sat him, and how he would probably be mad for weeks. Maybe it was a good thing that she was away for so long…  
“Earth to Kagome?” Mae waved a hand past Kagome’s eyes. “What’s up?”  
“Nothing!” she replied hastily. “Hey, how come you brought a toolkit with you?”  
“It’s my toolkit.” She said, as if that explained everything.  
“Hn?”  
“I use it for everything.” She continued. “It has stuff to make my phone work better, it has stuff to fix a broken down car, it has stuff to help build a temporary escape vehicle, you know? I’d feel unprepared without it.” She said defensively.  
“You didn’t strike me as a worrier, Mae.” Teased Kagome.  
“I’m just prepared!” She poked out her tongue. “Seriously, being in the cadet force makes me take this stuff seriously. Wow, one too many ‘seriously’’s in there…” she laughed.  
“What do you wear for cadets? What do you do?” asked Kagome, curious.  
“Well, I can show you what we wear – or at least a relaxed version. I brought my camouflage trousers with me, and my boots and t-shirt. What we do…” she mused as she changed into her dressed down variation on cadet military kit, “Well, we camp in the wild, learn how to fly planes, fire rifles, go on exercise weekends…loads of stuff really. We all do it together, like a sort of family holiday, except a lot harder work, and with better camaraderie.” She explained. When dressed in her black military boots, combat trousers, green belt and black t-shirt with ‘Paras-10’ emblazoned in red on the front in English, her two plaits looked incongruous. But, Kagome couldn’t deny it, she also looked pretty good. She looked a little dangerous, actually, with her strong, tanned arms bare and her heavy duty boots that were obviously well worn because they were well used, rather than uncared for.  
“Not bad,” she said, grinning, “But nothing on my uniform, of course.” She stood and twirled in her green uniform.  
“Keh, yours is way too girly for me, Kagome. I’d look downright stupid in a skirt that short – I wouldn’t know what to do if I dropped something, because I definitely wouldn’t be able to bend down to get it in front of a male!” she laughed at Kagome’s indignation.  
“Right, you are getting into a mini-skirt. I will not take no for an answer!” the girls mock-wrested, laughing, until they heard the door slam.  
“Mom said she wouldn’t be back, but it might be her…” muttered Kagome. “I’ll go check.” She poked her head round the door, and crept down the stairs, for some reason scared. If it was Mom, why hadn’t she called out that she was home by now? She tiptoed closer to the door and nearly fainted with fear when she saw a figure, dressed all in black, and holding a gun. She found it ridiculous that this single human was scarier than a thousand youkai, but it was true. Suddenly the man looked up, and for a brief second their eyes met. The man started towards the door, Kagome frozen where she stood. Then something in the living room caught his eye and he turned away from Kagome, and she started breathing again. She fled back to her room, bursting in without a care for the noise, and nearly knocking Mae over.  
“What’s wrong?” asked Mae, grabbing Kagome by her shaking shoulders, and looking into her grey-blue eyes with her hazel ones. “Who is it? An intruder?”  
Kagome nodded. “They have a gun…” she whimpered.  
“Okay,” said Mae, incredibly calmly. “So, did they see you?”  
“They saw me but then they turned away into the living room.” She whispered, as they heard a series of thumps.  
“Right. We need to get out of here. Do you know a safe place to go?”  
“Yeah…”murmured Kagome, thinking reflexively of Inuyasha and his Tetsuseiga, how he would make it safe.  
“Good.” Mae was chucking extra things into her rucksack, and taking out her pen-knife. She strapped on the pack, after pulling on a hoodie to keep warm, and smiled at Kagome reassuringly. “We should get out of here and to that safe place. From there we can call the police; if he has a gun it’s too dangerous to stay. Just follow me and do everything I say.” She said, confidently. Kagome nodded, wide eyed in amazement and admiration. Mae didn’t even look scared, more…excited. She led the way down the stairs silently, and they made it through the kitchen, as the figure in black ransacked the living room, making too much noise to hear them. Kagome whimpered in fear and Mae took her wrist reassuringly, opening the back door out of the kitchen as the rampaging stopped. Kagome watched in horror as the kitchen door opened, and the man saw them. Suddenly Mae had pushed her out of the door, there was the sound of a gunshot, and Mae was dragging her along the grounds.  
“Where’s the safe place Kagome?” yelled Mae, revealing how scared she was, despite her courage and reassurances.  
“Follow me!” she replied, putting on a burst of speed and crashing into the well-shrine, grabbing Mae’s hand before she could protest and dragging her down the well. Blue light followed them through, and they landed, shivering and terrified, on the other side of the well.

Inuyasha sat up and sniffed the night air, suddenly alert. Kagome had come back? It had barely been a day. He made as if to ignore it, remembering the uncalled for ‘sit’ command, and then sniffed again. Kagome’s tears and fear suddenly became clear to him, and he immediately grabbed Tetsuseiga and ran to the well, promising himself that he would never let that idiot go anywhere without him when all it did was let her become vulnerable. He arrived at the well to find Kagome shivering and sobbing uncontrollably and the foot of the well. But someone else was sitting there, telling her everything was okay. He narrowed his eyes at this intruder.  
“Who the hell are you?” he snapped, and Kagome looked up at him, startled and relieved. The strange girl leapt up like he had hit her, and she waved a miniscule, three-inch blade at him.  
“Don’t go near Kagome!” the girl hissed, sounding determined but scared. Inuyasha smelt that she was human, and was grudgingly impressed at her daring, but that didn’t stop him being angry. Fortunately, before he could draw Tetsuseiga, Kagome leapt up and stood between them, still shaking.  
“Mae, it’s alright, he’s a friend.” She explained, and the girl relaxed.  
“Mae?” Inuyasha began to glare at the girl again. “So you’re the reason Kagome had to go home, huh? Keh, what a pathetic human.” He growled. “You let someone make Kagome cry. What use are you?”  
Mae stepped across to get a full view of this ‘friend’. “I’d like to see you do better against a robber with a gun, baka!” she spat angrily, letting out her fear in anger instead. Inuyasha stepped closer to her and loomed over her threateningly.  
“Whoa re you calling baka?” he growled, and was happy that her eyes widened. Too late he realised it wasn’t in fear. Mae reached up and tugged at his ear with the hand not holding the pen-knife. “Is that real?” she asked, incredulously.  
“Well, duh, I am a hanyou!” he retorted, stepping back and looking at Kagome, who had been watching this interaction with disbelief written all over her face. They were fighting over who did a better job of protecting her? Wow, that was weird.  
“You ok?” he asked gruffly. “What happened?” he awkwardly put an arm round her shoulder and she hugged him tightly.  
“I don’t want to talk about it.” She said, muffled. “Ask Mae.”  
Inuyasha looked at Mae, who answered.  
“Kagome’s Mom and brother were staying with her Ji-chan at the hospital because he fell down the stairs. We were mucking around when the door slammed. Kagome went down to see who it was, and ran back up saying it was a man with a gun. I got some stuff, took out my pen-knife and led her out of the house, because since he had a gun it was too dangerous to stick around. I asked her to get us to a safe place. We almost got out, and the guy saw us and shot at us, but we ran and, well, she brought us here. Not sure how that last part worked though. I could’ve sworn we were in a well-shrine or something…”  
“Okay, let’s get to the village.” Inuyasha picked up Kagome. “Try to keep up, I’ll go slow.” He said, and set off at a gentle jog down to the village. To his surprise, the girl managed to keep up with him, even if she looked a bit tired by the end of it. Well, bright red and breathing hard. But usually humans looked worse when he jogged places, if they managed to keep up at all. When they arrived, Kagome had fallen asleep. He carried her into Kaede’s hut, where the other’s were asleep, and put her down, careful not to wake any of them. He went back outside, and sat at the door of the hut, on guard. Then he remembered Mae, who had sat down with her back to the hut, and was taking deep breaths, recovering from the sprint – or at least, her sprint.  
“Hey, go in the hut and rest.” He said, being, he felt, extremely polite considering how she had stolen Kagome and then let her get scared. Sure, it wasn’t really like that, but it was how he felt emotionally. What surprised him was her reaction.  
“Keh.” She ignored him.  
“Sorry, what?” Inuyasha stared at her.  
“What what?” she asked, bewildered. “You mean the ‘keh’ thing? Kagome found that weird too. Me, I think it’s expressive.”  
“Hn.” Replied the bewildered hanyou.  
“Hn yourself. So, you have fluffy ears, gold eyes, silver hair, and I’m assuming you’re not some figment of my imagination, so you must be the hanyou you say you are.” she said.  
“Why wouldn’t I be?” he asked, then suddenly the penny dropped. This Mae lived on the other side of the well, in the future Tokyo. She was supposed to not even speak Japanese very well, or at least only be studying it. “Wait, so, you speak Japanese?”  
“Well, obviously.” She replied, rolling her eyes.  
“And you are Mae?”  
“That is my name.” she answered evenly.  
“And you, a girl from this England place, who came to Tokyo to Kagome’s school for an exchange, saw a person with a gun, lead Kagome out of danger and got her here safely?”  
“You seem to like stating the obvious.” She commented, her spirit (if not quite yet her body) now fully recovered from the sprint.  
“What is a gun, anyway?” he asked, determined not to appear embarrassed by his ignorance.  
“It’s like a, well, a sort of automatic bow and arrow, in a tube that you can carry around. But the arrow is more just the arrow-head. And faster. And more deadly.” She explained, trying to use easily understandable terms.  
“Okay. You just ran past a guy with this gun?” he stared at her, convinced that she must be even crazier than Kagome.  
“No, I ran away from the man with the gun, and towards the safe place Kagome told me about. Doesn’t that seem sensible?” she asked.  
“Yeah but, didn’t you think you could get shot?”  
“Better shot but in a safe place than not shot but definitely about to be shot, with no escape, don’t you think?”  
“Keh, it was still stupid.”  
“If you ask me, you’re just being irritating.”  
“If you ask me, so are you!” retorted Inuyasha, wondering exactly when he had decided not to skin Mae alive for stealing Kagome. As it was he was no longer even remotely angry; he was far too busy being confused by this weird Englander.  
“Are all the people in England as crazy as you?” he asked mischievously.  
“Definitely not!” she exclaimed. “Most people are sane, like Kagome, for instance.” She replied, grinning. “I’m just a weirdo who gets amusement out of watching normal people go about their lives, and wondering when they’ll realise that nothing they do, none of their puny little cares or worries, actually mean a thing in the grand scale of things.”  
“Hn.” Replied the slightly dazed looking hanyou. “Sure…did you call Kagome sane?”  
“Yeah,” Mae frowned, “Why, she got a side I don’t know about? Hey, is she schizophrenic or something?”  
“Schizo-what?”  
“Never mind.” She said hastily. “Anyway, I’ll be off then.”  
“Hn?” Inuyasha looked at her in consternation. Sure enough, she was standing up.  
“Well, now Kagome’s in her safe place, I kinda need to get back to Tokyo, to call the police about that guy. For some reason, I have no phone reception here…” Mae was shaking her phone in exasperation. “Geez, I pay enough for this thing to work, but does it ever? And I really cannot be bothered with my toolkit right now.”  
“Okay, I have no clue what you’re saying but just shut up and stay here.” Said Inuyasha.  
“No way, I really need to call the police, don’t you listen?”  
“Don’t you listen? I said, shut up and stay here. It’s not like you have a choice, you can’t get back through the well without Kagome.” Well, that was almost true, thought Inuyasha, since there was no way he was going to take that mad-woman back through the well. To think he’d thought Kagome was insane.  
“Okay, fine.” Huffed Mae, and she sat back down. Silence reigned for a blessed few minutes, then, “Through the well?”  
“Wait ‘til morning. Be quiet and go to sleep already!” he growled.  
She shuffled into the hut, but stayed right by the door, in a sitting position, ready to run if she needed to. “Keh.”  
“Keh.”


	2. THE SECOND PART (IN WHICH EXPLANATIONS ARE MADE, PLANS AND OTHER INANIMATE OBJECTS ARE FIXED, AND MAE IS UNNERVINGLY SENSIBLE)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What will Mae think of these developments? How will Kagome explain this and keep everyone safe? And what even happened - was the robbery random, or did it have a greater purpose?

Kagome woke early, and immediately wondered where she was, and why she wasn’t back at home. Then she remembered what had happened throughout the previous night, and her eyes shot open, and she took in the inside of Kaede’s hut, with Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Kirara and Kaede herself all squashed in somehow. Kagome blinked when she also saw Mae, with her large rucksack at her feet, in a sitting position, asleep with her penknife held loosely in her hand. She got up and tip-toed over the others, knowing Inuyasha would be outside. She shivered, her school uniform not really the warmest of clothing for the slightly chilly dawn. Inuyasha looked up from his sentry position outside the hut, holding Tetsuseiga ready, and he offered her his haori for warmth. She gratefully shuffled under it’s protection and he looked at her, his serious golden eyes looking worried. “Mae told me about what happened.” He said softly. “Are you okay?”  
“Yeah,” she smiled. “You’re not angry?” she asked, blushing slightly.  
“I was, but after Mae got talking I just ended up confused.” He admitted sheepishly. Kagome giggled. “Good.” She sighed. “Sorry I brought her here, and made everything complicated, but it happened so quickly, and I just needed somewhere safe, and I-“she stopped, aware that the end of her sentence would be a tad too embarrassing. Inuyasha cast her an amused glance. “You gonna finish that sentence, or shall I?” he asked, his voice sounding rougher and amused.  
“Don’t take it to your head, Inuyasha.” She frowned.  
“Hey, I already know I keep you safe, what’s the big deal?” he asked.  
“Nothing.” Kagome murmured, evasively. Inuyasha decided to let it rest. Kagome looked so small, and the dawn sun illuminated her eyes, her face, and reminded him that while the sun was immortal, she wasn’t. That hurt. So he settled for his usual form of expression.  
“Keh.”  
Kagome laughed. “Mae does that too, you know.” She said.  
“Smart girl,” he retorted. “She obviously knows how expressive it is.”  
“Hn. Well, trust you to behave like the only person here who isn’t from Japan!” she grinned.  
“Kagome,” he asked, curiously, “Is Mae insane?”  
“What?!?!” exclaimed Kagome. “What makes you ask?”   
“Well, she led you safely away from a man with a gun who shot at her, decided to take me on to protect you, pulled my ear when I tried to threaten her, kept up with me when I ran to the village, wouldn’t shut up, started spouting all these crazy words, then tried to go off back to the well to ‘call the police’ whoever they are, before going ‘keh’ and shutting up and going to sleep like I told her to.” He paused. “Yeah, I reckon that sums it up.”  
Kagome smiled at that. “Mae is certainly unusual, but not crazy. She’s just brave, and handles change well.”  
“How do you figure that?”  
“Well, she’s always prepared, like she had that rucksack. She thought up a plan to get us safe from the gun quickly, because he definitely saw me, and it seemed like he was looking for something. She didn’t start crying or panicking like I did, and so far it doesn’t seem like she was too worried by the whole well-travelling thing. She took the present situation and dealt with it.”  
“When you put it that way, it kinda makes sense, I guess.” Said Inuyasha. He fell silent and stared at the sunrise, as did Kagome. It was wonderfully quiet and peaceful, with just the birds for company. The little village was certainly scruffy, but it also looked rustic and charming in the golden light. Inuyasha smiled at the peace surrounding him, feeling a rare bubble of contentment in his otherwise frantic life.  
“KAGOME!” a ball of russet fur knocked Kagome over into Inuyasha’s side, and he was shaken out of the peace that had stolen over him. Kagome smiled, and was about to give Shippo a hug when Inuyasha grabbed him by the tail.  
“Why do you have to be so loud, kit?” he grumbled.  
“PUT ME DOWN INUYASHA!” squealed Shippo, refusing to let anything get in the way of him and giving Kagome a hug.  
“SHUT UP, IT’S TOO EARLY FOR THIS!” yelled Inuyasha.  
“OSUWARI!” yelled Kagome, fed up of the noise. “Shippo, be quiet. Inuyasha, stop provoking Shippo, and Shippo, the same goes for you. Now, if we are very quiet, the rest of the village might be able to get some sleep.”  
“Sorry Kagome.” said Shippo, smiling sweetly and clinging round her neck. “But I was so happy to see you, and then Inuyasha stopped me from giving you a hug! Bet it’s coz he’s jealous you pay more attention to me.” He grinned.  
“Shippo, apologise to Inuyasha.” Demanded Kagome.  
“Fine. Sorrrrryyyyyyyy.” He drawled, standing on Inuyasha’s head.  
“Get off me, Shippo, I hurt enough already.” Snapped Inuyasha, who had just got up from being ‘sat’ so unceremoniously.   
They were interrupted by Sango sleepily opening the door, to see what was going on.  
“Inuyasha, what-Kagome?” Sango gave her friend a hug, and began to ask her what happened, when Miroku appeared at the door. He opened his mouth to complain, and then closed it again. Then he opened his mouth again, this time to exclaim, “Kagome! How come you’re here already?”  
Kaede’s voice came from inside the hut. “I have no idea what is going on, but could someone please keep the noise down? My sleep is irreparably damaged, but there may be some people in the next province who are still asleep.”  
“Sorry Kaede!” came many whispers.  
“Come inside and tell me what is going on, please.” She said, firmly.

Once the situation had been explained, Kaede and the others looked at the still sleeping Mae.  
“Maybe if we get her back she might think it was a dream?” suggested Miroku.  
“If Kagome denied that this place existed, it would help more.” Added Sango.  
“Well, it might work…” said Kagome doubtfully.  
“Keh, she’d never fall for that.” Said Inuyasha. They all stared at him.  
“Why not?” asked Shippo.  
“Kagome would understand.” Said Inuyasha, and resumed staring at the wall.  
“He’s right,” she admitted, “Mae is too clever to think this was a dream, besides, I feel like I owe it to her to tell her the truth. She did save me, after all.”  
“But it could cause so much more trouble, Kagome.” Pointed out Sango. “I don’t want to upset you, but won’t this just mean you miss even more school that you’re meant to be catching up on?”  
“That is true.” Conceded Kagome, biting her lip.  
“Well, since none of you want to ask me my opinion, I’ll say it myself. How about you show me here, wherever here is, and I can tutor Kagome each evening, so she doesn’t fall behind on schoolwork?” Mae had woken up, and had, it seemed, been listening for quite some time.  
“Mae, we appreciate you looking after Kagome yesterday, but it is too dangerous for you here. We have your best interests at heart.” Said Miroku, attempting to be charming.  
“Keh.” Replied Mae, making them all jump. “I doubt that.”  
“There are youkai.” Said Sango.  
“Fragments of an evil jewel.” Added Miroku.  
“Naraku.” Contributed Inuyasha.  
“A corpse brought back to life.” Said Kaede, causing everyone to stare at her.  
“Evil.” Whispered Kagome.  
“So why are you collecting the evil jewel fragments?” asked Mae, ignoring their attempts at scaring her off. They all stared at Mae instead of Kaede.  
“How did you know that?” asked Sango suspiciously.  
“Kagome told me about a hobby, called ‘jewel collecting with my family’. It doesn’t take a genius.” Replied Mae. “Anyway, so there are youkai, so there’s evil. I bet none of that is scarier to me or Kagome than a gun. Do you agree?” she asked Kagome.  
“I was more scared of the gun than I’ve ever been here.” She admitted.  
“So, like I said, show me around, I’ll tutor Kagome. Oh, but we might want to let Kagome’s Mom know we’re safe first.” Mae smiled. “Settled?”  
There was a reluctant murmur of agreement.  
“Good. So, could someone tell me where we are now?”

“Remind me why Inuyasha is coming back to the future with us?” Mae asked Kagome, pausing to crush her snort of amusement at the reference she had inadvertently made, as they walked through the forest towards the bone eater’s well.  
“I already told you, because otherwise Kagome will do something stupid and get herself hurt.” Said Inuyasha.  
“I’m not completely inept, you know!” snapped Kagome, somewhat irritably.  
“True.” Allowed Mae.  
“Thank you.”  
“Just mostly.” She added, causing Kagome to try to whack Mae over the head, but failing miserably.  
“I really need a necklace like Inuyasha’s for you, you know.” Commented Kagome.  
“Wouldn’t work.” Replied Mae smugly. “Since I’m not a hanyou.”  
“She has a point.” Said Inuyasha.  
“We’re here!” sang out Mae, before Kagome could have a chance to get annoyed. “So, Inuyasha, put on your hat.” grinned Kagome, forgetting her irritation immediately. Inuyasha had been given a red baseball cap that Mae had found deep inside her rucksack. He looked hilarious in it, to both the girls at least, because they could see the slight twitching in the hat where his ears tried to move but couldn’t because they were trapped against his head. Inuyasha put the hat on, and jumped down the well, reluctant to wear it for a second more than necessary. Kagome and Mae followed, giggling. They climbed up the stairs and out of the well shrine, peeking out to see what was going on. It was noon by now; it had taken most of the morning to fill Mae in on the whole situation, including the time travel, Naraku (their demon enemy), the Shikon no Tama (the jewel that makes demons extremely powerful), Inuyasha (as already mentioned, a half-dog-demon), Kikyou (the re-animated corpse of the miko Kagome is a reincarnation of, and Inuyasha’s old flame), Sesshoumaru (Inuyasha’s overbearing and extremely powerful elder, full demon, brother) and just about everything else required to make the feudal era make sense to her. She had taken on this information surprisingly easily, although she did keep posing awkward questions, such as ‘Is Sesshoumaru cute?’ and ‘Well, who’s gonna set Kikyou free of that creepy body, then?’. They blinked at the bright sunlight, and saw a police car drawn up by the house, with a distraught Souta and Kagome’s Mom visible in the kitchen window. They raced over, ignoring a couple of extremely confused looking policemen. They came in through the unlocked kitchen door, and Souta, Kagome’s Mom and the policeman making them a cup of tea all looked up in astonishment. The three who had just entered the house were just as shocked as the three within it, but for a different reason. The whole house had been ransacked from top to bottom; the kitchen appliances had been twisted and overturned, food was piled messily on the worktops. The only small island of calm was the kitchen table and chairs, which the policeman had set right, and a tiny patch on the worktop by the kettle.   
“Kagome!” Souta’s voice broke the silence, and he flung himself at his elder sister, clinging to her tightly. Then he looked up at Inuyasha, grinning, and hugged him too, saying thank you for looking after his nee-chan well. Kagome’s Mom had sagged down into her chair, relieved beyond measure. Kagome ran over to her and hugged her, beginning to cry.   
“I’m sorry, but I am going to have to ask a few questions.” Said the policeman, placing the cups of tea he had been making on the table. “Where were you?” he asked, but Kagome was not answering. He turned instead to Inuyasha and Mae, who were still standing awkwardly at the door.  
“You are Inuyasha, young sir?” asked the policeman, making Inuyasha blink.  
“Uh, I guess so…” he replied, uneasily.   
“And you are Mae, the exchange student?” he asked Mae, in heavily accented English.  
“Yes, I am the exchange student.” Replied Mae in Japanese. “I think Kagome is a little shocked right now, but I’d be happy to answer your questions.” She smiled at the policeman’s amazement.  
“So, what happened?” he asked, drawing up a chair each for Inuyasha and Mae, before sitting down himself, taking out his notebook.  
“Kagome’s Mom and Souta went to stay with Kagome’s Jii-chan in hospital, because he had fallen down the stairs.” She began, looking at Kagome and her Mom, who nodded at her to continue. Inuyasha simply clamped his mouth shut and let Mae do the talking; this was something he was not good at dealing with. A thousand youkai? Yes. Kind policemen? Nope, not a chance. “Kagome and I were mucking around, chatting, when we heard the door slam. Kagome thought it could be her Mom back early, so she went down to check. She saw a man in black in the living room, and the man saw her. She ran back up the stairs and told me about it. I didn’t know quite what to do, but Kagome said the guy had a gun, so I knew we had to get out of there. It sounded like he was ransacking the living room, kind of like he was looking for something.” She paused, and looked around the house. “I guess that part holds up to what I thought,” she said, gesturing to the destruction around them. The policeman nodded, and gestured for her to continue. “I got my rucksack and phone, and we tried to get out of the kitchen door without the man noticing. It almost worked, but at the last minute he saw us, so he shot at us, and we ran. I asked Kagome to take us to a safe place, and she took me to the well-shrine.” Mae paused again, feeling Inuyasha stiffen slightly next to her. “We hid in the well for ages, and Kagome called Inuyasha over on my phone. He stayed with us until we were certain nobody dangerous was around.” She finished, looking at the policeman with just the right mixture of fear and certainty.  
“Right, thank you, Mae. I am afraid we cannot do anything but compensate you for the damage, and issue a warning to look out for a man matching his description. I suggest that you and Kagome stay at home for a while, to recover from the shock.” Said the policeman, picking up his notes. “I am sorry that this should have happened, Mae, while you were staying here. I assure you that you are still perfectly safe, and we will do all we can to find the person who did this. Perhaps, when Kagome is feeling better, she can give us a description of the man.”  
The policeman was ushered out of the house by Kagome’s Mom, and they heard him yelling at two policemen who were supposed to have searched the shrine for the two girls. Their laughter broke the tension.

After helping clear up the mess downstairs, Inuyasha, Mae, Souta, Kagome and her Mom trooped up the stairs to check out the damage. They found that only Souta and Kagome’s rooms were overturned. Kagome’s Mom and Souta sorted out his room, while Kagome and Mae returned Kagome’s room to it’s former neat state. Inuyasha stood leaning against the wall in Kagome’s room, occasionally helping lift a mattress or shift the wardrobe back into position. Mae seemed to be coping fairly well without Kagome or Inuyasha’s help, however, so mostly he just stood there, watching Kagome re-fold her clothes and sort her books, fists clenching occasionally at the thought of the man going through Kagome’s things, or what might have happened if Kagome hadn’t gotten out of there. Finally, Mae had been demoted to sitting on Kagome’s bed, while she finished arranging her desk. Her broken lamp was on the bed with Mae, and she had her toolkit out, and Inuyasha watched with interest as she replaced the frayed wires and swore several times as she burned herself. She refused to stop, however, and soon her only problem was replacing the lamp into the now reshaped holder. Meanwhile, Kagome was looking for something, more and more frantically.   
“Mae,” she said, with forced calm, “Did you see a little bottle, with some stuff that looks like glass shards in it?” Inuyasha looked up at her, eyes wide. She looked at him and then looked down again, murmuring, “I just didn’t think…”  
Mae shook her head. “Sorry, haven’t seen them. They’re shards of the Shikon Jewel, aren’t they?” she said.  
“Yes.” Replied Kagome, biting her lip and inwardly berating herself. Inuyasha surprised her by coming over to her and touching her arm. She looked up at him and he smiled, pulling her into a hug.  
“Don’t worry,” he said softly. “There are plenty more fragments, and only one of you. Better you than the shards. We can get shards back, but not Kagome.” He stepped back again, and tried to retreat to the wall. Kagome reached out and took his wrist, staring at him, amazed, and just a little bit of something else.  
“Thank you, Inuyasha.” She said quietly.   
Mae yelped as she got shocked by the current in the lamp, and it began to glow. She looked up, saw Inuyasha and Kagome, and smiled. “Don’t mind me!” she said brightly, grinning even more widely as they leapt apart and blushed identically. “Your lamp is fixed.” She announced, placing it back on the desk and packing away her toolkit. “I’m off to see if Souta needs anything fixing. Call me if you need me, though I doubt it from what I just saw!” she winked at Inuyasha, making him blush even harder, and she skipped out of the room.  
“She’s crazy.” Muttered Inuyasha, now backed up against the wall again. Kagome smiled, and nodded. “Yeah, she is.” She agreed. They both looked at the lamp for a while, listening to Souta, Kagome’s Mom and Mae laughing, and the occasional yelp indicating another burn, accompanied by footsteps to the first aid box and back – Kagome’s Mom getting some plasters.   
“Inuyasha?” Kagome asked, and Inuyasha looked up. He looked tense, and just a little bit…frightened? Was that even possible?  
“Yeah?” he answered, trying not to sound nervous. His throat felt dry, and he coughed, once.  
“Did you mean what you said just then?” she asked timidly.  
“Keh,” he replied, relieved and irritated in equal measures. “Of course I did, stupid.”  
Kagome blinked. “Stupid?!” she hissed, dangerously, the small steps her heart had taken to opening up to Inuyasha immediately cancelled out by the familiar anger.  
“Yeah, stupid. Ain’t it obvious I-“ Inuyasha was unsure as to whether he could have had the courage to continue, but he never got to find out, because a split second later, he was face down on the freshly cleaned carpet, and Souta, Mae and Kagome’s Mom had come running to the source of the shout and subsequent crash.  
“What was that for?” Inuyasha grumbled into the floor, just as Kagome’s Mom asked the same question.  
“Inuyasha was being immature.” She replied haughtily, although she wondered if it was entirely worth it, because she didn’t feel any of her usual vindictive pleasure at ‘sitting’ him – although it could have been simply because he had nearly crushed the floor.   
“That is all very well, dear, but must you ‘sit’ him on the first floor of a delicate building?” sighed her mother, and Kagome decided that the lack of satisfaction was due to her fear that he would have broken the floor.  
“Sorry, Mom.” Replied Kagome meekly, and watched as her Mom dragged Inuyasha and Souta off to the kitchen, leaving her alone with Mae. They looked at the carpet. They looked at the lamp, which had been knocked off the table, and had once again had the connections cut. “I’ll get my toolkit.” Mae sighed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tetsuseiga - Inuyasha's magical sword  
> haori - sort of like a coat or cloak thing (traditional japanese clothing)  
> kit - short for kitsune, a small mischeivious demon not unlike a pixie or imp  
> Osuwari - sit  
> youkai - full-demon  
> miko - magical priestess  
> nee-chan - sister  
> Jii-chan - grandfather


	3. THE THIRD PART (IN WHICH AN AGREEMENT IS ACTED UPON, TRAVEL AND TEASING ABOUNDS, AND ADVENTURE LAYS IT'S FIRST CLAIM ON THE GROUP)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Decisions made and plans created, the adventuring begins! But what is happening to the village they come across on their journey? Can they save themselves, and everyone else from the village? Or is this the abrupt end of their short journey?

After dinner, an irritated hanyou, and two giggling human girls, made their way back to the feudal era. They all slept in Kaede’s hut, and although Kaede complained that they should either find new lodgings or help her get a bigger hut, it was actually quite cosy and warm. The next day, they decided that the best way to show Mae their era was to continue their quest for the jewel shards, but to direct their wanderings to various attractive places in the area. They set off, Sango and Miroku riding Kirara, Kagome (and therefore Shippo) on Inuyasha’s back and Mae pedalling frantically on Kagome’s bicycle. Mae was slightly taller than Kagome, and so, while her knees did not quite reach her ears, her ride on the bicycle was fairly comical, which caused all of them to laugh, randomly, as they travelled. They chatted, and Shippo pointed out all the kitsune points of interest, such as a good hiding place, or an excellent ambush corner. Miroku and Sango contradicted each other with their histories of various buildings they passed, and bickered, laughing all the time. Mae got the impression that they rather enjoyed the arguing. Kagome and Inuyasha said less, pointing out sites they had previously visited, and Inuyasha occasionally made snide remarks that were to the effect of criticising Miroku’s veracity, supported by Sango, causing numerous, half joking, pointed sulks. When they stopped for lunch, Kagome cooked some instant ramen for the group.  
“Thank you so much, Kagome, I adore ramen!” squealed Mae, laughing disgustedly at Inuyasha, who was shoving in mouthful after mouthful. “It seems he does too…”  
“Inuyasha’s love of instant ramen is infamous.” Said Miroku, grinning wickedly “Almost as infamous as his lack of tact and manners.”  
Inuyasha looked up, and cuffed Miroku over the head. “Shut up!” he growled, and Miroku laughed.  
“You know it’s true!” teased Kagome.  
“Keh.”

About an hour until nightfall, they came across a village. They entered, and almost immediately knew something was wrong. The people were far too submissive, eyes fixed on the ground. There were some officials, but this acquiescence seemed a little excessive. Each person was headed to a particular place, for a particular purpose. They honed in on drab, old market stalls, with rotting meat covered in flies, and slimy vegetables, buying the goods without a grimace. They headed purposefully in and out of fragmenting doors to houses with fallen in roofs. The group felt odd, as if they were the only ones truly living, and the villagers were mere drones in a hornet’s nest, controlled by the will of a hidden queen. There was one man who looked a little more alive than the others. While his movements were calm, his mud-brown eyes held enough terror to confirm their suspicions. His eyes held Mae’s for a moment, and she almost sensed their intention. She instinctively recognised the resolution behind them, and it chilled her. She made to speak, and then everything happened at once. The man dived forward and tried to run, the official cracked a whip, and in one short moment his blood spilled out of his lifeless body, mingling with the dirt. Mae stifled her cry of shock and horror, feeling a terrible anger welling up inside her. Without knowing what she was doing, she reached into her pocket and removed her penknife, opening it, eyeing the officials, who had immediately reverted to their blank-eyed state, looking neutrally straight in front of them. Suddenly Kagome’s hand was on her arm, pulling her back. Shippo, Sango and Miroku, too, were watching her carefully, as if she might make a dash for it and take on the whole village with just her little knife. Only Inuyasha didn’t seem to care; his hand was holding Tetsuseiga’s hilt tightly. It was obvious he was itching to obliterate the official. But Mae’s anger was vanishing as quickly as it had come, and was replaced with a deep, sorrowful pity. One of the drone-humans, a young girl, had stopped in her tracks in front of the man’s body, unsure of what to do now she was confronted with an obstacle. Gently, Mae reached out and guided the girl around the fallen man, and she continued forward without thanks, without even looking up. Inuyasha, meanwhile, had walked up to the official. He started verbally abusing the man. The official merely continued staring impassively at the building on the opposite side of the road in front of him. Inuyasha blinked at the unresponsive man, nonplussed.   
“What the hell are you playing at?” he said, prodding the unmoving man with his finger, “You want to die or something?”  
“Inuyasha!” snapped Kagome. “Get away from there!”  
“Why, it’s not like he’s moving!”  
“Just don’t touch anything, or anyone!” replied Kagome.  
“Why?” asked Sango, fearfully.  
“They’re all under a spell!” she said.  
Mae stared at her. “That’s it?” she asked, unimpressed.  
“What do you mean?” asked Kagome.  
“I mean, is that all you’ve gathered from this? Hell, I gathered that they’re under a spell, and I’m not a reincarnated miko!”  
“Maybe I should explain better.” Kagome apologised. “I can see a purple haze over their eyes. I don’t think they can see, hear or feel us at all!”  
Sango gasped aloud, and Miroku turned white. Inuyasha growled suddenly.  
“Care to share?” said Mae, irritated at being completely out of the loop.  
“It’s a dream demon.” Said Shippo, clinging to Kagome.  
“A dream demon?” Mae laughed. “You have to be kidding me! You’re scared of a dream? Dreams aren’t real!”  
“No, but a dream demon is real.” Said Sango. “A dream demon casts a sleep enchantment on it’s victims, and constructs a dream world in which the victim lives, until they walk to the demon in their dream, and it kills them. The demon uses some, like the officials, to prevent any others from waking up. If you wake up, you die; if you stay dreaming, you die. If you fall asleep or daydream too vividly inside the dream demon’s territory, you join the dream world too. Once, a dream demon overtook an entire province, without it ever being noticed, until it died when a rival demon killed it. Only then did the people wake up.”  
“Oh, right. I see.” Muttered Mae, slightly embarrassed.  
“We should kill it.” Said Inuyasha, decisively. “It probably has a Shikon shard.”  
“I can sense something faintly.” Kagome answered. “Maybe it’s being concealed.”  
“Well, if I were the demon, I’d hide the Shikon fragment in the dream world I constructed.” Offered Mae. “Then the fragment would be doubly safe, because by controlling the world, the fragment could be incredibly well protected.”  
“Of course!” exclaimed Miroku. “The demon that took over the province did that with it’s source of power, too. It works even better, because outside the dream world, the demon doesn’t exist, it’s just an object. It can’t be killed in this world unless you break the object – which is next to impossible to find - because it’s not really here, but with the Shikon fragment, in the dream world, it would be invulnerable in the only place it can be killed! Besides, the only threat it has are people already drawn into the dream world by his spell. It’s a perfect plan.”  
“Wonderful. So I can’t kill it here, with Tetsuseiga, but to kill it, I’d have to fall under it’s spell, and so not kill it anyway?” Inuyasha looked slightly angry, but mostly just confused.  
“Essentially.” Nodded Miroku.  
“So, how are we going to get out of here before we fall asleep? The gate is locked behind us!” Shippo trembled, clinging closely to Kagome.  
“It’ll be okay, Shippo. We just have to not sleep tonight, and we can get out of here when they open the gates in the morning.” Soothed Kagome, despite being terrified herself. Her miko powers were no use against this demon, because the Shikon fragment was hidden where she couldn’t go. She was also feeling guilty about bringing Mae into this crazy mess.  
“So what, we just sit here like cowards and don’t do anything? I thought you guys fight demons for Shikon fragments, not hide and run away!” stormed Mae, angrily. “Can’t you think of anything?” she asked, more quietly.  
“To keep us awake, we could try finding the object the dream demon is. It’s a fool’s hope, but we could try.” Said Sango, smiling sadly. 

As they walked through the crowds of people, looking for a suspicious object, Kagome searching for the faint glow of the Shikon shard, Mae desperately tried to find a way to solve the problem. She felt something nagging at her brain, and finally she realised the connection, eyes starting to shine with hope and excitement.   
“I’ve just had an idea!” she exclaimed, and the others turned to look at her.  
“What?” asked Inuyasha, eagerly. He, like her, didn’t like being so helpless against an enemy.  
“Have you ever heard of lucid dreaming?” she asked, bursting with her realisation. They shook their heads. “Well, it’s where you’re dreaming, but you’re in control of your dream. There’s the way your subconscious wants to take you, and where you want to go in your dream, and to change the dream, you just have to figure out it’s not real, and then you can manipulate it.” They stared at her. She turned to Kagome. “It’s a bit like Inception, with you as the architect.” She said. Kagome suddenly understood. “Right, so you can control your dream. Do you mean to say…?” she trailed off as she realised the implication.  
“Yes,” said Mae, grinning. “A lucid dreamer can be in the demon’s world, but still be in control of themselves. They might even be able to turn the dream on the demon! That guy, who tried to get out, he must have been lucid-dreaming. Some people are natural lucid dreamers; others have to work at it. But don’t you see, this is the way to kill the dream demon!”  
“That’d be great,” said Inuyasha cuttingly, “But none of us are lucid dreamers! At least, I’m not.”  
“Me neither.” Said Shippo.  
“I’m not.” Said Sango, sounding frustrated.  
“Same.” Sighed Miroku.  
“I’ve always wanted to be able to control my dreams, but I never could.” Kagome said.  
“But I can!” Mae was triumphant. “And if it works, you can just follow me, until I point out the object the demon is. I can grab the fragment, you can shatter the object, and then I’ll wake up, bringing the fragment out of the dream world with me as it dies!”  
“What if the lucid dreaming doesn’t work?” asked Kagome, tentatively.  
“Then it doesn’t work.” Mae shrugged. “But I know it will.”  
“Okay.” Said Inuyasha, assertively. “So, you lead us to the demon, grab the fragment, and stay out of trouble. Okay?”  
“It’s a plan.” 

Mae found a quiet corner to sit down in, and she closed her eyes. The others watched her anxiously. Her eyes opened again. “How the heck am I meant to go to sleep with you lot watching me?” she demanded.  
“We need to make sure we’re watching when you wake up, so we know you’re lucid dreaming.” Said Sango.  
“Keh. Whatever.” She said, closing her eyes once more. Slowly her breathing pattern steadied, and her mind began to wander. She thought about Sesshoumaru, wondering if he was more handsome than Inuyasha, or just less human. She wondered whether Kagome’s miko power’s were really as strong as was implied. She wondered if she would ever be able to go back to England and devote her life to flying aeroplanes, now she had seen a half-demon, and was risking her life to enter a full-demon’s own world. Of course, there was nothing she loved more than flying, but a close second was the adrenaline thrill she got from the high speed manoeuvres. She recalled the rushing sensation, the pressure on her ears, similar to a loud carnival she had been to in Venice once. The market-place had been incredible, filled with masks and feathers and colourful delights that filled her vision again now. She was looking out onto a market such as that, but twice as fantastic. She stood up, and drank in the sight. Brightly coloured market stalls flaunted enormous vegetables, a whole pig hung off another. One sold glittering trinkets; huddled so closely together it looked like a magpie’s nest. People were walking to one stall or another, or into houses, gilded with gold and carvings, so exquisite. She absorbed the details, the dragons carved on the buildings, the fluffy clouds that appeared at regular intervals along the blue sky. The overhead banners and washing lines strung with silks looked so spectacular it was hard to believe they were not intended to delight and compliment the sky. Mae noticed more details. The way layers of dirt were on the edges of the street, completely gone in the centre of the market. The fact that, while the fronts of the buildings looked perfect, if you saw the details on part of them, the rest faded, and the sounds became tinny, like on broken headphones, as if everything was focused on making the building look real. Is this real? She shook her head, and realised it was all a fantasy. She began to see in double-vision. She could still see the gorgeous market, but she could also see the ghost of reality. There was nothing in the air in front of her, and yet there were some forms shimmering in her vision. She looked closely at them, and they resolved themselves into the worried faces of her friends. She grinned at them. “This place sure looks swish in the dream world. This demon may be cruel, but he sure as hell has some style!”  
“Him?” asked Sango, critically. “Most dream demons are female.” She commented.  
“Well, this is ostentatious, noisy, over the top…all the hallmarks of a male ego.” Mae grinned. “So, I guess I go where the dream wants me to go, then.”  
“We’re right behind you.” Said Miroku.  
“Since it’s you, that’s what worries me.” She smiled, and allowed her current compulsion to lead her into the sensory chaos that was the fantasy market. She looked around and saw bright red-uniformed soldiers at attention along the roads. They were watching her, with uncannily identical expressions. She hastily wiped her face of all expression. She could just make out her companions, who were looking alarmed.   
“Don’t worry,” she muttered out of the corner of her mouth, “the guards were looking at me oddly.” She continued to follow her current compulsion, and found herself walking towards one of the houses. She entered, and found it sumptuous and decrepit. Silk curtains of peach, streaked with gold, enveloped then rooms with a feeling of warmth and safety. There were golden chairs, with soft velvet cushions, lined up in rows, watching a play. In the dream world, ladies in stunning kimonos, and men dressed to impress, absorbed the play in wonder and admiration. Outside the dream world, they were dressed in rags, sitting on slabs of stone, watching an empty, broken wall. But the strange thing was, there was no sense of compulsion about these people. They seemed like they were in control of where they were, not like the sheep she had seen before. Then one of the men turned and smiled at her. “Hello, dear. Another wakeful dreamer?” He was looking at her kindly, and yet something about his smile chilled her. It was filled with contentment, completely unlike the other lucid dreamer they had chanced upon. This happiness, far from reassuring her, was what scared her most. “Don’t be scared, honey, we’re all friends here. It took a while for most of us to realise, but this is safe.”  
Mae stared at him blankly. “Safe?” she whispered, her throat constricted with a premonition of the emotions soon to seize her. “Here isn’t safe, you’re awake, you should know that! Didn’t you see the other lucid, the other wakeful man? The guards killed him, just like that!” she choked.  
“He tried to escape, to break the deal we have made.” Said the man, calmly. “Please sit down, I will explain.” He motioned to the empty chair next to him. Mae shook her head.  
“I’d rather stand.”  
“Very well. We wakeful dreamers cannot wake from this dream, this is the first thing you must understand. We know we are asleep, yet we cannot wake. We are helpless. Instead of fighting this, and dying, like the lucid dreamer you have come across did, we have spoken to the Dream Demon himself, and bargained with him. If we do not fight him, he makes our lives better than they ever were when we were not in the dream. In exchange for our co-operation, he gives us riches and entertainment and luxury beyond our wildest dreams; we find and invite other lucid dreamers to join us. There is no better entertainment, believe you me.” He smiled, happily, with just a hint of madness.  
“Do you not understand?” cried Mae, impassioned by his speech. “Do you truly not understand how much power you have? Do not flatter yourselves; unless the dream demon considers you a threat, he would never bother pacifying you with such weighted deals! I bet he could hardly believe his luck, when you came begging for mercy! You are lucid dreamers – together you could change the dream world, shape it, destroy the demon! You could save hundreds of lives!” Mae stopped, having run out of breath and words to describe such complacency.  
“We cannot wake up. We do not want to wake up. What is there for us if we do? A broken village, decimated by the demon, and rotting food, rags and cold. Do you not see how much better this is than that?”  
“No, I don’t. All I see is a group of people who could use their power to save lives, but who choose instead to indulge in false luxury, because they are too afraid to face reality!”  
“When reality is so bleak, how can you blame us?”  
“Reality may be bleak, without the dream demon, but you forget what is really happening right now! Right now, you are eating rotten food, dressed in rags and sitting on cold stone, in a broken down house. The stage is empty. You are worse off than you would be if you were to live in the village ordinarily – far worse. You are afraid of poverty, yet you currently live in a reality so deep in poverty that you prefer a dream that is leading hundreds – perhaps even your kin – to their deaths at the hands of the same demon you bargained with.”  
“At least we do not know it. Now leave, please. We are all endangered by your ill-considered opinions and hubris.”  
“Fine!” she spat, angrily, “Be complacent! I wish that I could find a way to mete out justice so that when I rescue everyone, you wretches would be left to starve and drown in your own fear! You might be content to sit and rot, to abandon your companions, but I will not give in! Not for one second will I stop fighting the dream demon. And when you have cause to thank me for my service to you, I hope you are so ashamed you will not be able to face me to thank me, for all the abasement in the world could not compensate for the shameful behaviour you have committed of your own free will! And, God help me, I think I can find it in me to pity you.” Mae faltered, eyes beginning to fill with frustrated, pain-filled tears. “I pity your self-enforced helplessness. I feel sorry for you, and I think I forgive you your weak wills. I can only hope the rest of the world can see your pitiful state.” Mae was shaking like a leaf, torn from it’s branch in a hurricane, shivering violent and out of control, unable to contain the intensity of the emotions raging through her heart and soul. She felt the ghost of a touch on her elbow, and looked into the half-mirage of Kagome’s kind, concerned brown eyes. While Mae had been speaking aloud, the man was talking only within the dream-world, and so they could only wonder what had caused her to react in such a manner. She cleared her throat, blinked back the tears and co-ordinated her trembling limbs, whispering roughly, “We must get out of here.” Like the words were shards of glass in her throat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hanyou - half-demon  
> kitsune - small, squirrel-like, mischevious minor demon  
> miko - priestess/sorceress

**Author's Note:**

> OSUWARI – sit  
> Ji-chan – Grandfather  
> Hanyou – half-demon  
> -sama – Mrs.  
> Tetsuseiga – magical sword used by Inuyasha  
> Baka – idiot  
> Keh – expression of mild annoyance or dismissal, similar to ‘hah’ or ‘pah’


End file.
